Chapter One

Violent Delights

"Don't walk away when I'm talking to you."

The voice rang clear underneath the trees of the state park. Endless expansion of wildlife on the rocky edge of a cliff overlooking a quarry with glassy blue water disturbed only by the constant roar of a waterfall.

His hurried footsteps trenched up through the brush, cracking and twisting plump vibrant stems. "Laini!"

She pushed deeper. Her ears refusing to acknowledge the voice after her. It carried on the wind. It brushed the tips of her ears as if he whispered it just behind her.

Anger blistered deep inside her chest. Jaw clenched tight and brow knit together taut and tense, burning in the heat of midday.

"Stay away from me, Shane!" She called over her shoulder.

It was a mistake. The split-second stagger in her pace was enough to give him the edge. He used a long stride to close the distance and grab her wrist, an anchor to his person. Leverage he needed to swing her body back to his, capturing her with his other hand, dropping the shotgun he brought for protection. It swished through the dense layer of foliage upon the ground.

The heat of his breath pressed against her face. It burned hotter than the Georgia sun.

Gentle black waves clung to his forehead with a sheen. Curves of his Roman nose rose to deep set, blaring eyes. The soft shading of his jawline and cheeks from the couple days without shaving. The strength of the thick fallen brow that held that darkness over his big eyes.

The venom in her could not be contained by the stall in their chase. Nor could the way his eyes made her insides flutter and tense in anticipation that could be misconstrued as excitement. She fought against the tight restraint of his hold. Her fury preferred distance. Actually, it demanded retribution for her embarrassment. "You think you can just have whatever you want, don't you? That I'll be too stupid to see through your bullshit."

"Hey!" His face lowered at the insult. He aligned his gaze at hers. "What the hell are you going on about?"

"How long do you plan on pretending you're not in love with her? The way you fawn over one another. It's so obvious."

Shane scoffed.

She narrowed her eyes. "Don't you dare deny it. I see the way she looks at you, you look at her." Her voice came through gritted teeth, a barren hiss, the tone of utter betrayal.

"You're crazy, you know that?" He lowered his face to hers. Dark eyes penetrated deep to her soul. "You think the way we go at it that I've got time for someone else? Huh?" He brought their bodies together. The stiffness of his erection pressed into her belly. "Does this feel like I want someone else?"

The flex of his brow, as if in relief of satisfaction only fueled her fire.

The anger flared too high, too bright. It clouded her eyes with a shade of red. Nothing to break through.

Her teeth grinded harder, spitting out her words. "There's a difference between who you want and who you fuck."

"I'm with who I fuck." He shook his head, in an exasperated way.

There was so much they were abandoning in that moment. There was a camp. Survivors of the great epidemic, the devastation of humankind, that left them on the edge of society as those who succumbed to infection roamed in search of their flesh. The world was gone. It was broken without hope of repair. And it was all left behind them, outside of those trees, that depended upon their effort to keep the entire group alive.

Still, she couldn't give a damn. She refused to consider how selfish it was to stomp away at yet another close whisper conversation between her man and his best friend's wife, like there was some reason the two needed privacy.

The start of the epidemic was terrifying. Shane refused to let her to return to her apartment to get her things. Or even to go home. They stayed camped out in his house as the news showed the world descend.

Then, his best friend went missing. He'd gone off for supplies one day and never returned. So his wife, Lori, and their son, Carl, showed up on Shane's door to hunker the rest of it out together. It'd changed everything. The dynamic unbalanced, and Lori held all the power in the equation.

Lori and Carl were in that survivor group. They were additions to a survival plan that Shane had prepared for her. THEM. Together. Now, she was the last thought in everything.

"I want who I'm fucking. End of story," Shane said.

"Bullshit you are."

The latch on her wrists was strong. Even as she tried to break away, his clenched down tighter, holding her closer to him. She pulled away again. Each time, she was dragged back to him.

He refused to let her go.

There was the odd suspicion that was now resurfacing as Shane was left to lead the group of survivors through the unsteady times that Lori and Shane were much more than friends. Laini couldn't provide evidence. It was only gut feeling that something lurked below the surface for the pair. And she wanted no part of it.

Her eyes bubbled. "I swear to God, Shane. I'll tell Rick if you don't leave me alone right now."

Mention of his best friend moved Shane. His feet forced her backward as he walked forward until her back met with a jagged tree trunk.

A bitter breath released out her lungs.

"Now why would you go and do that for?" He pressed his body into hers back into the tree. She was crushed between the two with no escape. Shane's neck hanged low. His face stayed close to hers. The fallen dark hairs against his face, offset by the pale of his lips, "You trying to make me jealous?"

Laini rolled her eyes. "Only you would be jealous over that."

"Telling another man that I don't do well enough to please you to keep you from thinking I want anyone else," his lips murmured against her cheek. The soft caress of the flesh against hers made a shiver go through her spine. "It's like an invitation for someone to do better. Is that what you want? Hm? Someone to keep you satisfied."

He dug his cock harder against her body. The soft tissue of her belly feeling its hardness move against her thin shirt. The slight hitch of his breath as he pressed his lips against the side of her face then down to her neck. The brush of air set those kisses alive. Moisture of his lips turned once hot kisses into cool chill as the wind blew.

"No," she breathed. It stopped his happy trail of kisses alongside her exposed shoulders. Her eyes swam with dedication as he appraised her. "I just don't share."

A large smile spread across his cheek, tongue in cheek, already too delighted to hide it now.

He released her wrists long enough to grip her by the waist and hoist her up to his chest. Each leg wrapped around his waist. Each palm held below her ass with plenty of grip into the meaty tissue.

"Well, baby, you ain't gotta worry about that. Because neither do I."

She lowered her face to his. Hot tingles spread as the warmth of their mouths collided. They stood that way for a long time, running their hands all over a body they'd memorized from the hundreds of times before, barely gasping air in love of the sweet taste of the other.

Her legs tightened against him just right to tease the taut tension of his pants with the wide and wet opening beneath her own. Shane moved himself against her. He strained to rub hers with his. Their hauty groans of their mouths as their greedy lust overtook them.

He'd put her to the ground, turned her around against a tree and released her legs from the confines of her pants as she dug her nails into the trunk with sharp splinters beneath the nail beds, panting from her open lips. Shane was right against her. His chest flush with her back. He held her tight, pushing himself into her taut opening with a large crashing grunt.

The feel of him between her thighs fed the waters that welcomed him.

Shane brought a single palm against her exposed neck. He pulled it back gently. All the while his body slammed hers into a tree, his tongue filled her mouth with a fury of passion and release.

Burning tension of anger fanned to into spreading flame below her skin. It bubbled through her inner thighs and up throughout her torso. Her throat went loose with sounds. The rhythmic force hitting her sensitive spot inside while rubbing her clit on the outside shot to her toes. She called out for him at the loss of her strength. Climax washed her of everything.

Her body remained in his strong hold while he continued weakening her body even more.

Soft whimpers turned to mewls as he suddenly stilled. A sharp tremble through him, quaking his biceps twisted beneath her breasts.

There was the sound of his breath at her ear. It took many seconds for him to bring it back to control.

He withdrew his cock from inside her. She felt the squishy release of his cum drip into her panties as she pulled up the waist of her pants.

Her fingers were buttoning the high-waisted cargo pants when his two arms hugged her from behind. He snuggled his nose into her neck. "You and me, baby."

Laini felt a painful thump hit her chest from deep inside. She swallowed. "You promise, Shane?" Her cheeks went red when she felt the strength of her words. A promise. That was for love and commitment. Her and Shane had just been messing around for months, but it was never expected to be serious. They never said it was. In fact, it was possible there was no claim to Shane's fidelity at all. Her eyes focused on her pants buttons. The three rows of them. "Promise I don't have to worry about you running off in the woods with her."

"Like I'd chase any tail into these woods, unless its this one." He reached down and grabbed a handful of her ass. She rolled her eyes, which he seemed to notice because all at once his voice was low. "I promise."

Laini allowed the smallest give in her stance. She melted into his side. It was not that she wanted to be angry with him. There were moments where she could not think of anything else but what jolted through her at any given moment.

"You don't love her?" She countered.

He shook his head. "No. She's Rick's wife. My best friend. I have to be friends with her. Can you imagine how Rick would be if I wasn't?" He leaned his forehead against hers. "I need you to be too. I can't do this without you. But Rick. He's -."

"He's your best friend," she finished. "I know."

Rick was not the problem. He seemed like an alright guy. Never said much, but was serious, she respected that. It was his bitch wife Lori that she couldn't stand.

Although Shane refused to admit it. Something was between the pair that was unsettled. Business that needed dealt with.

"And baby." He leaned forward and picked up the gun. It was sleek matte black. A shotgun. Rick had raided the sheriff's office when he disappeared. The group received an arsenal of weapons thanks to it.

Her eyes drifted away from the shotgun. "Hm."

"Don't ever turn your back on me like that."